Relational presentation of communications and application for transaction analysis

Abstract

The system provides a method of sorting and presenting messages in a way so that the relationship in message threads can be easily observed and related messages can be identified. The system provides a way to view messages and map message threads and inboxes in two and three dimensions so that the content of messages can be easily reviewed and the relationship between messages can be seen and followed. The system is not limited to email messages but can present the relationship between multiple types of communications including emails, instant messages, texts, tweets, bulletin boards, wikis, blogs, voice conversations postings on social networks and other types of communications. In addition, the system allows for the inclusion of transactional information, including financial transactions, physical movement, asset deployment, or other acts or activities that may be related to, or independent of, the communications.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing device, the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions to:
 produce a map to electronically stored information by displaying the relationships of messages or transactions in a thread, wherein displaying the relationships of messages or transactions in the thread comprises:
 displaying, in a first dimension, one or more areas respectively associated with one or more participants, wherein the one or more participants include:
 a root originator represented using a first graphical attribute other than text; 
 an active participant represented using a second graphical attribute that is different than said first graphical attribute; 
 and a passive participant represented using a third graphical attribute that is different from each of said first graphical attribute and said second graphical attribute; 
 
 displaying, in a second dimension, in the area intersecting the root originator in the first dimension, a representation of a root message or transaction generated by the root originator, wherein the root message or transaction is associated with one or more first related participants of the one or more participants; 
 concurrently displaying, in each of the one or more areas associated with the one or more first related participants, a representation of the root message or transaction; 
 concurrently displaying, in the second dimension, in the area intersecting a responder participant of the one or more first related participants, a representation of a responsive message or transaction generated by the responder participant, wherein the responsive message or transaction is responsive to the root message or transaction, and wherein the responsive message or transaction is associated with one or more second related participants of the one or more participants; 
 concurrently displaying, in each of the one or more areas associated with the one or more second related participants, a representation of the responsive message or transaction, wherein a profile builder identifies any aliases of the one or more second related participants and a conversation builder analyzes documents to determine if they are part of the thread; and 
 displaying, in a third dimension, a time associated with the root message or transaction and a time associated with the responsive message or transaction, wherein the first dimension, second dimension, and third dimension are dimensions of a cube-shaped representation of the thread. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein a message or transaction is associated with a participant if the message or transaction was received by, received via a cc by, received via bcc by or received via forward by the participant. 
     
     
       3. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein color coding is used to indicate one or more of the following:
 the representation of the root message or transaction; 
 how the first related participants are associated with the root message or transaction; 
 the representation of the responsive message or transaction; and 
 how the second related participants are associated with the responsive message or transaction. 
 
     
     
       4. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the representations of the root message/transaction and the responsive message/transaction each include a preview of the respective message or transaction, wherein each preview shows a portion of the associated message or transaction. 
     
     
       5. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more areas respectively associated with one or more participants is a column. 
     
     
       6. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 5 , wherein the representations of the root message/transaction and the representations of the responsive message/transaction are located within the associated columns such that the order of the messages/transactions in time is displayed. 
     
     
       7. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 6 , wherein the order of the messages/transactions in time is displayed by displaying representations of messages/transactions that are more recent in time closer to the top of the associated columns. 
     
     
       8. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 4 , wherein each preview shows one or more of the following: the recipient of the message or transaction, how the recipient of the message or transaction is associated with the message or transaction, the participant that generated the message or transaction, the date and time the message or transaction was sent, the subject of the message or transaction and a preview of the body of the message or transaction. 
     
     
       9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 4 , wherein each preview displays an expansion button, wherein the expansion button is adapted to allow a user to expand the message preview to display more text of the associated message or transaction. 
     
     
       10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 4 , wherein each preview displays a navigation tool, wherein the navigation tool is adapted to allow a user to display messages or transactions within the thread that are related to the message or transaction associated with the preview. 
     
     
       11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 4 , wherein each preview displays a navigation tool, wherein the navigation tool is adapted to allow a user to move to a different message or transaction in the thread and/or move to a different thread. 
     
     
       12. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing device, the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions to:
 produce a map to electronically stored information by displaying the relationships of messages or transactions in a thread, wherein displaying the relationships of messages or transactions in the thread comprises:
 displaying, in a first dimension, a first column associated with a root participant; 
 displaying a representation of the root participant using a first graphical attribute other than text; 
 displaying, in the first dimension, one or more second columns associated respectively with non-root participants, the non-root participants including an active participant and a passive participant; 
 displaying a representation of the active participant using a second graphical attribute different than the first graphical attribute, wherein a profile builder identifies any aliases of the active participant; 
 displaying a representation of the passive participant using a third graphical attribute different from both the first graphical attribute and the second graphical attribute; 
 displaying a first preview of a root message in the first column, wherein the root message was sent by the root participant, wherein the root message is a root of the thread and a conversation builder analyzes documents to determine if they are part of the thread; 
 for each non-root participant, displaying, in a second dimension, a second preview of the root message in the associated second column if the non-root participant is an intended recipient of the root message, wherein each of the previews shows a portion of the associated message or transaction; and 
 displaying, in a third dimension, a time associated with the root message and a time associated with a responsive message, wherein the first dimension, second dimension, and third dimension are dimensions of a cube-shaped representation of the thread. 
 
 
     
     
       13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein displaying the relationships of messages or transactions in the thread comprises:
 displaying, in the second dimension, a plurality of rows associated with the first column and the second columns, wherein the first preview and the second previews of the root message are displayed in a first row of the plurality of rows; and 
 displaying previews of subsequent messages in the same thread, wherein the previews of each subsequent message are displayed in a different row of the plurality of rows. 
 
     
     
       14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein each of the previews of messages is shaped substantially like a rectangle box, and wherein the rectangle box is displayed in the appropriate column and row according to the associated message and participant. 
     
     
       15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 14 , wherein each rectangular box is displayed in a color that indicates how the message or transaction is associated with the participant. 
     
     
       16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein each of the previews of messages displays a navigation tool, wherein the navigation tool is adapted to allow a user to display related messages within the thread. 
     
     
       17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein each of the previews of messages displays a navigation tool, wherein the navigation tool is adapted to allow a user to move to a different message in the thread and/or move to a different thread. 
     
     
       18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein displaying the relationships of messages or transactions in the thread comprises copying or linking one or more of the previews of messages to a clipboard for later retrieval. 
     
     
       19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein said first graphical attribute is a first color, said second graphical attribute is a second color, and said third graphical attribute is a third color. 
     
     
       20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein said first graphical attribute is a first color, said second graphical attribute is a second color, and said third graphical attribute is a third color.